New Champions And Contenders Have Emerged In 2025. Here Are The Five Fighters Who Have Impressed The Most
The highly unofficial half-year awards season concludes with our picks for the best fighters of the first half of 2025…
1 – Merab Dvalishvili
“The Machine” is the only champion to successfully defend their title twice already this year, and in those two bouts, the 34-year-old standout from Georgia solidified his vice grip on the bantamweight belt.
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At UFC 311, Dvalishvili used a torrid pace and his unmatched conditioning to hand Umar Nurmagomedov the first loss of his career. While the challenger started well, a broken hand and the relentlessness of the champion proved to be his downfall, as Dvalishvili turned up the tempo in the late rounds, drawing level heading into the fifth, where he cemented his victory, all while clearly having a glorious time.
A touch under five months later, Dvalishvili squared off with former champ “Suga” Sean O’Malley, upping the ante from their first meeting, where the incumbent first wrestled the title away from the flamboyant champion. Utilizing the same wrestling-heavy approach as always, Dvalishvili showed a new wrinkle to his game by attacking a submission in the waning stages of the third round, catching O’Malley in a modified D’Arce choke and forcing him to tap.
2 – Ilia Topuria
After a phenomenal year in 2024 where he claimed and successfully defended the featherweight title by stopping two legendary champions, Topuria kicked off his 2025 campaign by adding another title and another devastating stoppage to his highlight reel.
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Just last weekend, the 28-year-old ventured into the Octagon opposite Charles Oliveira in the main event of UFC 317, the two men battling for the vacant lightweight title. Throughout the build up to the contest, Topuria was apologetic to the Brazilian standout that he had to be the one standing between him and a second UFC title, forecasting a first-round knockout win to achieve “Double Champ” status.
Just before the midway point of the opening stanza, Topuria connected with a right hand that caused Oliveira to collapse into himself, with the already triggered follow-up blows that chased the finishing hook landing, as well.
3 – Joshua Van
Heading into his 2024 finale opposite Cody Durden, Van said that if things went well in that contest, 2025 was going to be his breakout year. Six months in, he’s made good on that prediction.
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Van kicked things off with a dominant decision win over Rei Tsuruya at UFC 313 in March, remaining on the card and bouncing the Japanese prospect from the ranks of the unbeaten when Bruno Silva, his original opponent, was forced out for undisclosed reasons. Three months later, the 23-year-old from Myanmar dispatched Silva, dominating him on the feet before collecting a finish in the final minute of the fight.
Just as he was readying to celebrate the win over Silva, Van was called to replace Manel Kape opposite Brandon Royval at UFC 317, where he rolled into the Octagon and promptly bested the former flyweight title challenger, establishing himself as the No. 1 contender in the 125-pound weight class in the process.
4 – Jean Silva
The Fighting Nerds standout continued his march towards the top of the featherweight division in the first half of 2025, building on his outstanding rookie campaign by adding two additional victories to his resume.
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In February, Silva turned up in Seattle and swiftly defeated Melsik Baghdasarayan, collecting a first-round stoppage victory that featured a momentary pause where he seemingly asked the referee “Do I really need to keep going?” after dropping his Armenian opponent. After putting the finishing touches on “The Gun” in February, Silva ventured to South Beach less than two months later, where he ultimately submitted Bryce Mitchell to push his UFC record to 5-0 with five finishes.
The 28-year-old has now won 13 straight overall to fully establish himself as a legitimate threat in the 145-pound weight class. Next up, a main event pairing with Diego Lopes at Noche UFC on September 13 in San Antonio, Texas.
5 – Alexandre Pantoja
Given the way he’s been going about things recently, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a hitman or hired assassin in some upcoming Hollywood spy film be named Pantoja or have the codename “The Cannibal” because the UFC flyweight champion continues to take out challengers with relative ease and little commotion, just like a good hitman would.
At UFC 317, the 35-year-old Brazilian stood opposite Maori knockout artist Kai Kara-France and promptly dominated him, taking down his former TUF opponent less than 20 seconds into the opening round, making it clear he was fully in change of things from the outset. After spending much of the second round standing with the City Kickboxing representative, Pantoja dragged the fight back to the canvas in the third, eventually working around to Kara-France’s back, where he laced up a rear-naked choke and squeeze out a tap.
The American Top Team representative has successfully defended his title four times, earning each of his last two victories by submission, while running his overall winning streak to eight. A meeting with Van later this year is presumably next for the longest reigning male champion on the roster, as he’ll look to become the 15th fighter to earn five or more consecutive successful title defenses.
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